Blinded By The Light
by TeddyBear98
Summary: Barry thought the worst part of his day would be getting blinded by Doctor Light. Getting called into work when he couldn't see a thing was the icing on the cake. 2x05 AU


**Author's Note:** Hey guys! This is another request from the awesome WolfKomoki :) It's basically just an AU of the episode The Darkness and the Light in which instead of going on his date with Patty while blind, Barry gets called into work and attempts to work blind. I had fun with it, and I hope you all like it! Also, **PSA:** When I get down to some of the forensic science stuff, please be aware that it is totally off XD. Some of it is based on fact, but the rest is definitely made up. Also, the title for this totally comes from the song Blinded By The Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

"Come on, Barry, it's not that bad. It's only temporary."

"You wanna switch places with me?"

"Nah, I'm good. I like being able to see."

Barry Allen rolled his eyes. Banter like this was normal between the speedster and Cisco Ramon, although this was the first time it had pertained to the superhero's sight. Or, more accurately the lack of it.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Cisco snorted from his place across the room. While it was somewhat amusing for the engineer, however, Barry was not enjoying his current predicament. When he had woken up this morning, getting blinded by a metahuman from another earth who also happened to be the doppelganger of his ex-girlfriend had not been very high up on his to-do list. But that had not stopped it from happening, and now he literally could not see a thing. Iris, sitting beside Barry, couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"At least you're gonna heal, Bar. Caitlin said that if you didn't have your healing capabilities, this would be permanent."

The speedster sighed. "Yeah, I know," he replied; Iris smiled softly.

"So consider yourself lucky."

Caitlin chose then to walk back into the room. Although Barry couldn't see her, he could hear the sound of her heels on the floor as she reentered.

"I called Joe, to let him know what was happening," she said. "He got called into work, though, so he's not gonna be able to make it here for a while."

Barry frowned, raising an eyebrow. "On a Saturday? He doesn't usually work weekend shifts."

Caitlin shrugged. "I guess it was important."

Barry shrugged as well. "Yeah, I guess. So anyways, how long do you think this is going to last? I -" The speedster was interrupted by the sound of his phone going off.

"Oh, that's mine," he said, moving to stand. Iris put a hand on his chest, preventing him from hopping off the exam table.

"Don't even think about it," she said amusedly. "You'll crash into something and do yourself more damage. I got it."

Barry shot a sheepish but appreciative smile in what he hoped was her general direction as she got up to grab the device. It was the journalist's turn to frown, however, as she saw the name on the caller ID.

"Bar, it's Singh," she said as she brought it over to him. Barry frowned again as well; if Singh was calling him, it couldn't be good. Iris hit the answer button for him before handing it over.

"Hello?" Barry answered, slightly apprehensive.

" _Allen!"_ the voice on the other end of the line said into his ear. " _Things are crazy here today. I know it's your day off, but I really need you to come in to help go through evidence and run some forensic testing. How soon can you get here?"_

Barry paused then, a feeling of dread coming over him; there was no way he could work when he couldn't see anything.

"Ah, listen, captain...I don't think that's such a great idea. I -"

" _Allen, you're the most competent CSI I have. I'm sorry, but this isn't a request. I need you to come in. You'll be paid for overtime, of course."_

The speedster ran a hand frustratedly over his face, and he felt someone, most likely Iris, place a hand on his shoulder. He paused for another moment before replying.

"Yeah, okay," he said. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

" _Good."_

Barry hung up the phone and immediately put it down next to him on the exam table, placing his head in his hands and groaning; why did he have such terrible luck?

"What the hell was that about? You'll be _where_ in a few minutes?" He heard Iris's voice next to him.

"Singh needs me at the precinct," he grumbled.

"And you said yes? Barry, you can't see. There's no way you're going," he heard Caitlin chime in. He could picture her crossing her arms, the signature disapproving look she always gave him whenever he did something stupid. Admittedly, he received that look far more often than he liked to.

"I _have_ to," he replied, lifting his head up. "He's my boss. If I don't show up, he'll probably fire me. I've been late or ditched enough times in the past to give him enough reason to," he added with a sigh. While he loved being the Flash, it really did interfere a lot with his day job.

"Come on, man, if he hasn't yet I doubt he will. You can't work blind," Cisco piped up.

Barry shrugged, hopping off of the exam table. "I'm not about to find out."

"Barry _,_ " Iris said seriously, standing up as well. "You can't be serious."

"Will you please just drive me?" Barry pleaded, shooting his best pleading look in the direction he heard her voice; Iris crossed her arms.

"No," she said. "This is stupid. You're not going."

"Fine, I'll just call Patty and have her pick me up."

" _Barry,_ " Iris repeated frustratedly, throwing her hands up in the air now. Cisco and Caitlin exchanged a look. Despite how obvious of a bad idea it was, it was also obvious that Barry's mind was made up. And once that happened, it was practically impossible to get him to change it.

"Iris, come on," he pleaded simply.

With a groan, Iris shot him a dirty look, despite the fact that she knew he couldn't see it and therefore had no effect on the speedster.

"Fine," she relented finally. "Don't call Patty, I'll take you. But I'm staying there!" she said firmly. She knew that she wouldn't be able to convince him to stay, couldn't physically restrain him from going. But she sure as hell could keep an eye on him as he insisted on being an idiot.

* * *

"Last chance to be smart and back out," Iris said as she parked the car in the lot at the precinct. The pair had said nothing to each other throughout the ten minute drive, seeing as they were in disagreement.

"Iris," Barry replied, his tone taking on a hint of annoyance. "Not happening." The journalist huffed as she watched him fumble for the door handle and, after finding it, stepping out of the car. She unstrapped and got out herself, walking around and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Walk forward, you big idiot," she said, rolling her eyes, and proceeded to walk the blind speedster into the building, trying her best to make it look like she was _not_ guiding him, and that he was _not_ totally unable to see. As much of a pain in the ass it was to have him wanting to work like this, it would have been worse trying to explain to any of his co-workers or his boss what had brought on this sudden predicament.

"Allen!" Came Singh's voice seconds after the pair and walked in. He started towards them, a stack of papers in hand. "And...West," he added as he saw Iris with the CSI. "You made good timing. I need you to look over these cases and run the necessary tests." The captain held the stack out as he approached, and Barry blinked, reaching out to take them but falling short by several inches. Iris acted quickly and grabbed them from the man, shoving them into Barry's outstretched hands.

"He'll get right on that. I'm just - gonna walk him up," she said with a forced smile, grabbing hold of his arm and yanking him none too gently towards the stairs. Singh raised an eyebrow as he watched them go, shaking his head. There was always some sort of weirdness surrounding Barry Allen.

Iris continued to drag the man up the stairs, quickly but careful to be sure he didn't fall. Once the both of them made it up in one piece, she shoved him gently into his desk chair. She crossed her arms, looking down at him as he gingerly reached out in front of him to place the stack of papers on the desk.

"How the hell do you expect to get through that without being able to see?" she asked, and Barry shrugged.

"Well, if you're gonna stay, you could help -"

"I don't know anything about any of this stuff, Barry, and you know that."

"All you have to do is read me what's on them, and maybe hand me some things when I need to run a test. It'd be easy."

Iris huffed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You owe me big time, Barry Allen." Barry smiled widely, knowing he had convinced her.

"What's the first one say?" he asked her. Iris walked closer, picking up the first packet from the stack and looking it over.

"Anderson case," she announced. "Suspected homicide. They found trace evidence on a portion of the victim's shirt that needs to be identified."

Barry nodded his understanding. "Then I just need to run a fabric analysis," he said, and stood up.

"Can you grab me a beaker and one of the distilled water jugs from the shelf over there?" he asked, vaguely gesturing, and Iris nodded, obtaining both and walking back over. She handed the objects to him.

"Now what?" In answer, the CSI opened the jug of water and started to pour it into the empty beaker; he knew from memory when to stop, and capped the jug again.

"Is there a bag with the evidence attached to one of the pages?"

Iris flipped the pages until she found what he was looking for, a bag with a piece of fabric stapled to the paper. "Yeah," she replied.

"Okay, good." The speedster then opened one of his desk drawers, pulling out a clean pair of gloves and struggling only briefly to pull them onto his hands. "Hand it to me?" Iris pulled the bag from the paper and placed it into his hands. Barry then proceeded to open the baggie and pull the shirt piece out with one hand. "And there should be a box of tablets on the table over there. Could you bring that over?" Iris rolled her eyes but went to grab it anyways; the man would be screwed without her.

"Here," she said, placing the box in front of him. "What are those for?"

"I have to put one in the water, and then put the fabric in. The reaction will separate any foreign substances on it," he explained, opening the box by feel and taking out a tablet, which he then dropped into the beaker, putting the shirt piece in directly after. "That way it'll be easy to figure out -"

"Uhm, Barry?" Iris interrupted, staring at the beaker. "Is it supposed to be smoking?" Barry's calm facial expression quickly morphed to one of alarm.

"Smoking? No - Oh God, what color are the tablets?"

Iris frowned, growing alarmed herself as Barry seemed to go into a slight panic. "Silver."

The speedster's eyes widened, and suddenly he was reaching out, feeling where she was in an attempt to try and speed her to the opposite side of the room - but too late. There was only time to knock her to the floor, the two of them landing in a tangled heap before the suddenly the liquid in the beaker caught fire and immediately and loudly exploded, sending glass, water, and a cloud of smoke everywhere.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked quickly as they both sat up. Iris nodded before remembering that he couldn't see the gesture.

"I'm fine," she said. "What the hell just happened?" Barry rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I, uh, should have specified the color," he said. "You must have grabbed sodium metal. Sodium doesn't react well with water."

"Yeah, I can _see_ that," Iris replied. "And this is exactly why we all told you not to come in today! Barry, I swear -" The journalist didn't get to finish her rant as at that moment Captain Singh and several other officers came racing into the lab, eyes wide as they saw the dissipating smoke and Iris and Barry on the floor.

"What the hell happened!?" Singh exclaimed, the same question Iris had asked only seconds before. "Are you both okay?" The two of them scrambled to stand, and Barry was quick to try and explain himself.

"Sir, I'm so sorry - there was a mixup with one of the chemicals and -" he began, looking in the general direction of his boss. It was then, however, that Singh seemed to realize exactly what was going on: the way Barry wasn't looking directly at him, how he hadn't been able to grab the papers earlier - the fact that Iris was still there with him.

"Allen, can you fucking _see_?" the captain demanded incredulously, and Barry suddenly looked incredibly nervous.

"Well I, ah - I had my, uhm, eyes dilated today so -" he started to lie, and it looked to Iris that Singh nearly wanted to facepalm. He instead ran his hand over his face, taking a moment to collect himself.

"Allen?" Barry bit his lip.

"Yes, sir?"

"Go home."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** That's it for this story :) And like I said above, the science was definitely off. That is definitely not how you run a fabric analysis. As for the explosion, sodium metal actually does smoke and catch on fire when put in water; however, I doubt it would have actually exploded like that unless it was a huge chunk. If you want to see it in action, here's a link to one of the youtube videos I watched where they put huge pieces in a pond!  watch?v=8n3Rc8HWK2o / Anyways, hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
